Lansingburgh, NY –The Sage women's soccer team hosted the Hawks of SUNY-New Paltz on Sunday afternoon at Lansingburgh H.S. The home opener for Sage, senior tri-captain Nicole Maher (Glen Clove, NY/Saint Dominic) provided the Gators with a spark on both ends of the field to lift Sage to a 1-0 victory. Sage improves to 4-2, while New Paltz drops to 1-4.
Maher, who in her previous three seasons with the Gators has excelled on offense, has been also spending time in net for Sage. The starting keeper and the shutout winner for Sage, she also tallied the game-winning goal as she converted a penalty kick at 87:11 after a Sage player was fouled hard in the box.
Maher connected for the only goal of the afternoon for her third goal of the season and her 31st career goal as she pushed the shot past New Paltz's freshman keeper Mary Flanagan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) with just 2:24 left to play in a previously scoreless match-up.
Maher finished the day with six saves and earned the shutout win, her first of the year. Now the No. 3 all-time leading goal scorer at Sage with 31 career scores, she stands No. 3 as well in career points with 78 points on 31 goals and 16 assists (also No. 3).
Sage head coach Andrew Gamarra said of the win "The women are learning with every game and making adjustments to how we should be playing. The women stepped up and it was certainly a challenging game and we are excited about the upcoming matches this week as we continue to improve with each contest."
For the Hawks, Flanagan made five saves in the action, while the teams were pretty even on shots as Sage held a narrow 10-9 edge.
Sage returns to action on September for a 4 p.m. road contest at Southern Vermont College. The Hawks of SUNY-New Paltz will host Union College on Wednesday, September 16 at 4 p.m.